Alan Greenspan Recent Quotations

I am concerned about the recent evident weakening of support for free trade, ... Should we endeavor to freeze competitive progress in place, we will almost certainly slow economic growth overall.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny that something profoundly different than the postwar business cycle has emerged in recent years,

reductions in demand for our exports and intensified competition from imports. All of this suggests that the growth of economic activity in this country will moderate from the recent brisk pace.

the recent surge in energy prices will undoubtedly be a drag (on the economy) from now on.

The recent data still exhibit deterioration, ... The question of most fundamental importance is how long will that continue and where will it spread, and where will the stampede of buffalo stamp all over us before we can stem this.

Notwithstanding the demonstrable advantages of the new international financial system, the Mexican financial breakdown in late 1994 and, of course, the most recent episodes in East Asia and elsewhere, have raised questions about the inherent stability of this new system,

Demand has been growing quite strongly in recent months, and the (Fed monetary-policy committee)? will have to judge whether that pace of expansion will be maintained (and), if so, whether it will continue to be met by solid productivity growth, as it apparently has been.

Despite the rise in oil prices through mid-August, inflation and inflation expectations have eased in recent months,

Despite the combination of somewhat slower growth of productivity in recent quarters, higher energy prices, and a decline in the exchange rate for the dollar, core measures of consumer prices have registered only modest increases,

Any notable shortfall in economic performance from the exemplary standard of recent years runs the risk of reviving mistrust of market-oriented systems, even among conventional policy makers,

Although the tendency in recent months toward stabilization in the East Asian economies is encouraging, clearly those economies are not out of the woods, as recent events attest,

Although the global economic expansion appears to have been on a reasonably firm path through the summer months, the recent surge in energy prices will undoubtedly be a drag from now on.

It is still too early to judge whether the froth will become evident on a widening geographic scale or whether recent indications of some easing of speculative pressures signal the onset of a moderating trend,

How can we ignore the fact that virtually all forecasts of the budget balance have been wide of the mark in recent years?

Changes in consumer confidence will require close scrutiny in the period ahead, especially after the steep falloff of recent months,

The determination of global economic activity in recent years has been influenced importantly by capital gains on various types of assets, and the liabilities that finance them. Our forecasts and hence policy are becoming increasingly driven by asset price changes.